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Article
in the Wellesley Townsman about Coal, a senior citizen black lab
who has found a new home:
"An
Old Dog Gets a New Life"
By Cathy Brauner, Townsman Staff
Thursday, February 08, 2007 - Updated: 12:28 PM EST
Coal, a senior citizen black lab, was abandoned a year ago outside
the Wellesley Animal Hospital. Rescued by Stray Pets in Need, he
was eventually placed with the Kelley family of Elmwood Road. In
front: Grace, 6, getting a kiss from Coal. In back, from left: Melanie;
Rosie, 13, Camille, 9, and Brent, 11.
(Keith E. Jacobson)
Coal
landed on all four paws after he was adopted into the Kelley family
of Wellesley. But only a year ago, all the odds were against this
senior citizen black lab.
Early
one morning in January 2006, the dog was discovered tied outside
the Wellesley Animal Hospital on Weston Road. Whoever dumped him
left behind a quilt for him to lie on, but stripped his collar of
any identifying information.
The
dog had a sweet personality, and was quickly dubbed Old King Cole,
in recognition of his merry soul.
But
he was indeed old — Wellesley Animal Control Officer Sue Webb
estimated his age at 10 — and sick. Besides arthritis, he had
a urinary infection. Webb speculated that the owner might have been
unable to afford his medical care, even though urinary infections
are treatable.
Stray
Pets in Need, the Wellesley-based nonprofit group founded by Webb,
covered the cost of his medical treatment and found him a foster
home. But because that couple already had dogs, Cole needed a permanent
placement.
That
was where Elmwood Road residents Scott and Melanie Kelley and their
kids came into the picture. They had recently lost their female
lab, Lindsey, at age 13, and Melanie didn’t feel ready for
a puppy.
“I
knew that I could take care of a dog that had some urinary issues,
because of Lindsay,” she says.
As
it turned out, Cole — now renamed Coal — began dribbling
all the time once the infection was treated. “I was going crazy
running after him with a mop,” she said.
He
was also vomiting and seemed constipated, and Melanie worried that
he had a tumor. So SPIN helped her pay for an ultrasound, which
found nothing amiss.
Eventually,
a urethroscope was done at an emergency hospital in Waltham, which
showed that his urethra “was just completely destroyed because
of long-standing urinary tact infection,” Melanie says. “I
thought he might have been abused. It was that bad. The doctor said
he had never seen anything like it. He must have had that infection
for a very, very long time.”
At
that point, the family was faced with a decision: live with the
dribbling, or return him to Stray Pets in Need. But, says Melanie,
“I committed to this dog. I wanted to help him. I couldn’t
give him back. What a bad message [for the kids].”
Fortunately,
someone in a pet store suggested diapers, and that became Coal’s
salvation — and the family’s group chore. The kids help
change the diapers, and Melanie washes them every day. “He
doesn’t object,” says Melanie, adding that in the past
year, he’s put on a few pounds and “the diapers are getting
a little snug,” she says.
Meanwhile,
Coal has become more and more a part of the family— no small
task, given that he spent the first 10 years of his life in some
other household. His only phobia, if it can be called that, is that
he doesn’t like hardwood floors and races across them to reach
the carpet.
“We
very much enjoy him. He’s an easy dog,” says Melanie.
“It took six months for him to bark. Finally, when he barked,
he scared us all to death.”
They
taught him to swim last summer, and they take him for walks when
it’s warm enough.
Six-year-old
Grace is particularly attached to him. “She absolutely adores
him. She smells like him, because she’s always touching him,”
Melanie says.
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